Merhaba! I have had a pretty exciting weekend. On Thursday, my family took me to the seaside city of Antalya for a four day trip. Antalya is a beautiful city. We stayed in a town right next to Antalya called Side. Side is a word in the Anatolian language, which, in Turkish, means nar (pomegranate). Our hotel was next to the beach and I got to go swimming in the Mediterranean Sea! On Saturday, I walked down the beach with Semra and Fettah to the center of Side. Side is a really ancient city that still contains ruins of buildings that are centuries old. We walked past all of the shops and restaurants, and then we turned the corner, and we were standing next to the ruins of a Roman temple to Apollo from the 2nd century! A piece of one of the walls of the temple still remains standing and there are pieces of pillars and walls lying all around it. We also walked to a Roman amphitheater from the same time period. Seeing these ancient buildings was incredible.

This is my second week of school. I still have no idea what my teachers are talking about in class, however, everyone is really nice and more than willing to help me. I have also been studying Turkish from my grammar book and that is being really helpful. I realized that last Thursday marked my one month anniversary of being in Turkey. Wow, the time has gone by really quickly.

Ramadan started last Sunday. The whole country seems different during Ramadan. There are stories about the holiday on the news everyday and there is Turkish music played over the loudspeakers throughout the city.

On a completely different note, I found a similarity between the Turkish calendar and the Jewish calendar. The month of April is called Nisan, July is Temmuz, and September is Eylül. Sound familiar to anyone? I just thought that was interesting and I wanted to share it.

So today was the second day of school and the first day of actual classes. What I did not know, though, is that although my schedule says that classes start at 8, school actually begins at 7:45 with an entire school gathering/ listen to the Headmaster speak time. So when I got to school at 7:50, I thought that I was going to be early, but when I walked into the courtyard, the entire school was already lined up according to class and the Headmaster was waiting for me to join my class so that he could begin his speech. I had no clue where to stand, and when one of the teachers asked me a question, I had no clue what he said. One student knew what class I was in, so they told the teacher, and then I finally found the class. It was a pretty scarring experience, the entire school was staring at me. After that experience, however, the day got better.

At my school, we have 8 periods, but Monday is the only full 8 period day. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday I have 7 classes, and on Wednesday I only have 6. I also do not have the same classes everyday, they change depending on the day of the week. Sometimes the classes are two periods long and sometimes they are only 1 period long. I am taking Psychology, Chemistry, Biology, and Physics. I also have English, German, a Turkish Language and Expression class, and a Turkish Literature Class. My schedule also includes Geometry as well as a totally different class called Mathematics, which, from looking through the textbook, kind of looks like Pre-Calc. I am taking History, Geography, and Health. I also have a Religion, Culture, and Ethics Class and three classes called Projects, National Security, and Guidance respectively. I had to translate my entire schedule with the use of my handy-dandy dictionary, so it's possible that these names are a little off. I am wondering what I am going to be learning in these classes...

Today I had Geometry, Turkish Language, Physics, and Math, and although the teachers didn't really begin to teach (they just talked) I completely have no clue what they were saying. This is going to be a very interesting school year. The other students were very nice, though. They seemed concerned that I didn't understand anything, and that made them think that I was having a bad day. Word travels very quickly around my school, however, because an hour later, other students (not in my class) and some teachers came up to me saying that they had heard that I was having a bad day and asking me how I was doing. I reassured them that I was fine, I just had no clue what was going on in my classes. The teachers are being really supportive, though, and I think that I will learn Turkish soon enough. Özge (Aslı's cousin who lives in Ankara) sent me a Turkish-for-beginners Handbook, which will definitely help me learn more of the language.

Well, I'm off to bed now so that I can be fully awake for more classes tomorrow, iyi geceler! (good night)

I had my first day of school today. All I can say is "wow". One thing to know about my school is that it is kind of like two schools (a public school and a private school) put together. It started out as a public school (that is, anyone could go there) but last year, they started the "private school". I don't know if people have to pay for the private school, but the students have to apply and be accepted. Most (if not all) of the public school kids are Juniors and Seniors, while all of the "private" school students are Freshmen and Sophmores. Apparently, I was accepted into the private school, because those students were in my classes. The only kind of bad thing about this is that because the oldest private school students are Sophmores, I am now also a Sophmore. Hey Daniel, we're in the same grade!

Because today was the first day, Semra and Gulderen (Yilmaz and Ece's mom and a teacher at my school) both walked me to school. When we got there, all of the students and teachers were standing in the courthouse in the middle of the school. The students were all lined up and were listening to the headmaster's "Start of the School Year" speech. He talked for literally 20 minutes, but, once again, I have no idea what he said. When he finished all the students turned around and walked towards their classrooms. Gulderen, Semra, and one of the school's English teachers helped me find my classroom. We went into one classroom, and the English teacher introduced me to the students there, but it turned out to be the wrong classroom, so we went to a different one.

The second classroom was the correct one, so Gulderen introduced me, and then she and Semra and the English teacher left. The minute they were gone, every student got up and rushed towards my desk. They all began to speak at once, asking me questions in both English and Turkish. Most of them can speak at least some English, so I was able to talk to them. People kept going outside to get other people to come meet me and students from other classes kept looking in the classroom at me, and then leaving. On the first day of school in Turkey, classes don't really exist and during some periods, teachers don't even come into the room. Therefore, I talked to people for 2 hours straight until the bell rang for lunch. We have an hour for lunch and we can leave school if we want to, so Gulderen and I went home for lunch.

When I went back, there were even more people I got to meet, and I actually met one of my teachers. I met my English teacher and I found out that English is the first class I have after lunch. I also met a girl who lived in Louisiana before moving to Turkey, so I talked to her for a while. During the last class period another teacher came and I found out that chemistry is my last class of the day. I spent a lot of that class period being confused (I wasn't even sure what subject she taught until I asked someone) because she talked the entire time in Turkish. Gulderen told me that the actual classes will begin tomorrow, this should be interesting.

Everyone was very nice and interested in talking to me though, so I hope that the goodness of meeting all these new people will outweigh the fact that I don't know what is going on in any of my classes.

By the way, the uniform that I wrote about is not the one that I actually wore. That uniform is the one for the public school, but because I am in the other school, I had to get a different uniform. This one is a red and gray plaid skirt and gray sweater. The only accessory that I can wear is my watch (no bracelets or earrings) and my necklace has to be tucked in. The boys have to wear suit pants, a jacket (green for public, blue for private), and a tie everyday. School in Turkey is more formal than it is in America, everyone stands up when the teacher comes into class (students stay in one class all day and the teachers switch).
Well, it has been a very exhausting first day, so I am going to take a nap, bye everyone!

This has been a pretty interesting week. I got to go to two wedding parties, one on Tuesday and another last night. The wedding party on Tuesday was short and slightly boring, but the one last night was amazing.
First of all, it was a very, very fancy wedding. So fancy that Semra and I got our hair done for it (Mom, I should have brought a prom dress to Turkey). It took place in a hotel right outside the city. There were over four hundred people there (this is not an exaggeration, there were at least 40 tables (they were numbered) and each table sat 10 people). There was a four course meal that consisted of salata (salad) and appetizer type things, then et (meat) and pilav (rice), and dessert that included fruit and a type of Turkish pastry and then at the end we ate wedding cake. It was a spectacular wedding cake that had 7 layers.
I finally also got to see a wedding ceremony (this is the third party I've been to, but the first that also had a ceremony). The ceremony was really short, no more than 5 minutes. I don't really know what happened because the only thing I understood was when the bride and groom both said evet (yes) which I'm assuming is like saying I do, because everyone cheered and clapped when they said it. Afterwards, the fathers of both the bride and groom spoke, but I don't know what they said because the only thing I understood was Hoş Geldiniz, which means welcome.
After that, the dancing started. There was a live band, which had 2 percussionists. One of them played a drum set, but the other played the maracas, the bongos, and a Turkish version of a sort of bass drum. They were amazing. At one point, they played a Turkish folk song, and one man danced a folk dance. About halfway through, a 9 year old boy started dancing and imitating him. It was really cute to watch. Later, more people were folk dancing, and Semra made me try to do it, but I felt really awkward, so I sat back down and kept watching.
At one point during the wedding, all of the guests lined up to give the bride and groom takı, which are wedding gifts. Takı included gold bracelets, gold earrings, and some gold coins. All of them were tied with red ribbon and the guests pinned them on the bride and groom.
After that, the dancing and eating continued until after midnight. It was a really fun and interesting experience.

Well, I hope everyone is having a good weekend. School starts on Monday and I don't know how I am going to do because I can't really communicate with anyone. Wish me luck!

Hey everyone! Here are some pictures from my trip up the mountain to Afyon Castle. The first picture was taken when I was part way up the mountain, and the others were taken when I was at the top. Enjoy!

I bought my school uniform today. Picture this: a plaid skirt (red and green), a white shirt, a green sweater, and the choice of either green or white tights (the green ones were hideous, I went with the white). I look ridiculous, all of you would laugh. At least, that's what I did when I saw myself in the mirror. Semra also laughed when she saw my reaction to the uniform, it was pretty hysterical. One good thing about the uniform though, I won't have to spend time each day trying to figure out what to wear to school. I am very excited about that. Now I have to go buy black shoes to go with it, this means no more flip-flops to school *sigh*.

Yesterday I went with my host parents to a restaurant, right outside the city. The restaurant is outside, so its like having a picnic, it's pretty cool. After we finished our meal, we saw Iram and her parents coming into the restaurant. They came to sit with us and we ended up staying and talking to them throughout their meal as well. In fact, we were at the restaurant for four hours. Afterwards, we all went to Iram's house for ice cream and to watch the football (soccer) game. This match was between Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor. I am a new Beşiktaş fan, so it was slightly upsetting that they lost, 2 to 3. I also had a new food called sütlaç, which is similar to rice pudding.

Yesterday was also a historic moment for me, I was called tall for the first time in my entire life. Iram's mother couldn't reach something in the top cupboardrd, so she got out the stool and asked me to get it for her. I was really confused, no one ever asks me to get stuff from a top shelf, I am always asking someone else to do it. It was a funny experience.

Well, I should go. Semra's mother is visiting us. I call her anneanne, which is the Turkish word for a maternal grandmother.

Yesterday was a really interesting day. There is a really old castle, called Afyon Castle, that was built in about 1500 B.C. that sits on a mountain overlooking Afyon. Fatma and Bora invited me to go to the castle with them. Bora's cousin, Oğuz and his uncle, Anan, who are visiting from İzmir, came with us. We climbed up 650 steps (I counted) to get to the top, which was a hard work-out, but the view from the top of the mountain was completely worth it. I could see all of Afyon below me and it was beautiful.

Fatma also invited me to a village wedding party that took place last night. Fatma was going because she owns a pharmacy and the sister of the groom works there. This was a really interesting experience. I found out that the marriage had been arranged by the bride's and groom's families, but with their consent. I also found out that the groom is 19 and the bride is 17.
When we got there, Fatma and I went into the house, looking for Emine, who works for Fatma. Inside the house, there were at least 40 women sitting all over the house. Some of them were cooking, but most of them were talking. We found Emine and talked to her for a while and then we went outside because it was time to eat. There were rows and rows of tables set up outside and there were at least 100 people sitting and eating. It looked as though the entire village had been invited. There were babies and young children running around and teenagers and parents and grandparents all over the place.
Dinner was served and we ate çorba (soup) and ekmek (bread) and there was also pilav (rice) with et (meat).
Then, all the men stayed outside and danced and the women all went back into the house and danced there. People also set off fireworks during the party, which is a custom in weddings. There is also another custom among the men, and that is to have guns at weddings. They take their guns and fire them into the air during these parties.
This wedding party was a groom's house and I was told that there is another wedding party at the bride's house and the actual ceremony will be on another day. The entire wedding will take 3 days.
It was a really incredible experience to be able to go to this kind of wedding. I was told that 40 years ago, this type of wedding was common in Turkey, but this kind of wedding is unusual nowadays.

Two days ago, we also celebrated Ece's 9th birthday. We went over to her house and joined her parents, grandmothers, her brother Yilmaz, and two other 5 year old boys who I think are cousins. We ate (of course), sang to her, and gave her presents, it was really cute.
Well, that's all for now. I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Merhaba!
Yesterday was an important day for Muslims. It is the day that they believe that Allah accepts everyone's prayers and forgives everyone for their sins. Also, because Ramadan is only a few weeks away, it is also a day when Muslims go to a graveyard to pray over their family members.

Two nights ago, some of Semra's and Fettah's friends came to visit. Iram, who just graduated from college in Ankara this past June, and her parents and her aunt. Iram speaks some English, so through her I was able to talk to the others. They also invited me to go with them yesterday to the graveyard to pray over Iram's grandparents. I did and it was a really interesting experience. They had little prayer books with them that reminded me of the ones that Jews have for saying prayers for the dead, only instead of being printed in English and Hebrew, they were printed in Turkish and Arabic.

Afterwards, Iram and her aunt took me to this really old Ottoman house from the early 1900's that has been renovated into an Afyon Culture and History Museum. It was really beautiful. It was filled with traditional Afyon and Turkish artifacts and it had dummies wearing traditional Turkish clothing. They also took me out to lunch and we ate pide, which is a soft bread that can have a variety of toppings. It is a little bit like pizza and it is delicious.

Last night, Bora and his parents came to visit. One thing that I really like about being here is that people are always visiting. Our neighbors, Ece (who is 9) and her five year old brother Yilmaz are always coming in and out of our aparment. Their grandmother (who also lives with them) comes over everyday and helps Semra cook. They have been making something that I think is some sort of bread for 4 days now. Bora and Fatma come to visit all the time and so do a bunch of other neighbors and friends.

When people come to visit, the first thing you do is serve them Turkish kahve (coffee). It is this very bitter, very strong coffee served in tiny cups without any milk or sugar. If the guests stay for a while, then they get fed. It's usually pasta (cake) or some type of pastry. They also get served çay, which is tea. Everyone drinks çay, even Yilmaz likes it.

When Kaya (who is the Afyon Rotary Club President) came to visit with his wife, Nevin and their 16 month old son, we served them food and çay and the little boy liked to drink some of the çay. I have never seen someone that little like çay before. I guess everyone in Turkey likes çay because they all start drinking it from a very young age. My host brother Can told me that his grandmother drinks 20 or 30 cups of çay a day and that this is normal for older Turkish people.
Well, that's it for now. Güle güle (good bye).

Today was a pretty interesting day. It started out with me going grocery shopping with my host father, Fettah. But, instead of going to just a plain old grocery store like people do in the US, we went to a bazaar. A bazzar full of stalls with every different kind of thing you could possibly want to buy. All of the people running the stalls were yelling, trying to get people to come buy their merchandise. It was really cool. We got some fresh fruits and vegetables and fish that we ate for dinner.
My host mother, Semra, has been absolutely fantastic about me being a vegetarian. She always makes sure that I have something to eat, and usually it's more like four or five somethings. She is a fabulous cook and I find it really fun to help her. Yesterday, we made a really delicious cake with cherries and it and a few days ago, we made two huge pots full of tomato sauce. We used fresh tomatoes and squeezed them ourselves (with the help of a tomato squisher machine). Apparently, this is something she does every year, and then we eat the tomato sauce all winter long.
In the afternoon, I went with Semra to her friend's house and we talked to her (or rather she talked, and I listened) for a while. Then, I had my first Turkish lesson. The president of the Afyon Rotary club is giving me Turkish lessons. We just went over the basics today, but I found it pretty interesting.
Semra came to pick me up after my lesson, and she had Yilmaz, the 5 year old son of one of our neighbors with her. He is really adorable and a lot of fun to be around. So we got back to the apartment building, and we got off the elevator, and Yilmaz vomited right in front of our door. That was an interesting experience.
I also watched a Turkish game of soccer (football) today. It was between the teams Beşiktaş and Antalyaspor. The Beşiktaş fans are the most hardcore fans I have ever seen in my entire life. They started singing and cheering their team on in the first 2 minutes of the game and they sang throughout the entire 90 minute game. Even the fact that their team lost 3 to 1 didn't stop them, it just made them sing louder.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend and happy September to everyone!